石の上にも三年

Ishi no ue nimo san nen

It takes a long time sitting on a stone before it becomes warm. Expect to work at something for three years before you see results.

I woke up the next morning shivering. Pulling my overly large black coat around myself like a blanket, I huddled further inward in a vain attempt to preserve warmth. Unfortunately, the night before had been particularly cold, and I hadn't been ready for the unusual temperatures. Teeth chattering, I wondered when I would finally be able to head to school. It was likely that they would start serving breakfast next week - today was only the second day, after all - so I would have to wait a little longer for my free morning meals. Perks of being a scholarship student, I suppose.

Sitting up, I hunched over to avoid bumping my head on the roof. I blindly reached out for my toothbrush and paste, feeling only marginally guilty for stealing a new set last week. Toothpaste was a necessity if I planned to have good dental hygiene, and I needed good dental hygiene. Quickly cleaning my teeth, I spit out of the little window I had cut into one of the walls a long time ago. Now fully awake, I lifted my uniform out from under my pillow, happily noting that the material was clean and unwrinkled. My hair was still braided from the day before. Dressing quickly, I wrapped my faded red scarf around my neck multiple times.

Crawling out of my cardboard box, I quickly packed up my belongings in a small duffel bag, collapsing the box and tucking it inside as well. Turning, I exited the alley with a wide smile. I was ready to face my second day at Yuuei Academy.

I climbed out of the bus with a relieved sigh. The person I had been sitting next to had smelled odd, and stared at me a little too closely for comfort. Starting towards Yuuei, which was a few more blocks away, I tucked my face beneath my scarf. It was still far too cold - I hoped it would warm up soon, or tonight I'd be forced to move. I liked the flower-shop I was hiding behind a little too much, and moving would be unpleasant. I doubted I would be able to find such a quiet, people-free spot anywhere else.

"Ichigo!" A familiar voice shouted. I turned, eyes widening, to see Ochako running towards me, waving her hand wildly. I slowed to a halt, waiting for the brunette to catch up. "Hey Ichigo," Ochako huffed, finally reaching my side. "It's cool that you're here! Do you leave nearby?"

I flushed at the unexpected question. "N-no," I stuttered out, hands fidgeting with my jacket sleeves automatically. "Th-the bus stops n-near here th-though."

Ochako smiled brightly. "Really? I should meet you there tomorrow, we could walk to school together," she then paused for a moment, looking at me inquiringly. "Would that be okay with you?"

I nodded immediately. "Y-yeah!" I then blushed violently at my outburst. That had been far louder than I'd intended!

Ochako laughed cheerfully, unaffected. "Great!" The brunette continued to chatter on about what she thought Yuuei would be like, and occasionally brought me into the conversation by asking questions about what I thought about our classes. I smiled softly from behind my scarf, suddenly feeling much warmer. This, I thought happily, must be what having a friend is like.

Then a cool breeze blew by, and the moment died. Shivering, I tried desperately not to fall behind. Damn Ochako's long legs, I was not equipped for this sort of speed!

Yuuei Academy, it turned out, was surprisingly normal. I hadn't had any problems with the curriculum, which had already taken off at a rapid pace (it was actually far too easy). The time I had wasted studying random topics in the library had paid off in almost every class. Lunch, however, had been a far more marvelous affair. As a scholarship student, I had been given a certain number of credits for food each month. I had never had such good food before, or so much!

Sitting down next to Ochako, I visibly salivated over my gigantic pile of food. Ochako had taken a healthy helping herself, but I had heaped on all the rice and meats I could fit on the plate. "Th-this is awesome," I whimpered, making grabby motions with my chopsticks. Ochako laughed, batting my hands away.

"Be polite, Ichigo," she scolded, sounding more amused then upset. She clapped her hands together. "Itadakimasu!"

I blinked in surprise. I hadn't had to use "manners" in some time. "Oh-um, I-itadakimasu!" I mimicked, slapping my hands together and promptly attacking my food. Ochako watched me eat in horror, but I really couldn't be bothered. I had food! I had rice, and chicken, and carrots, and more!

"Uhhh… Ichigo?" I paused mid-bite, turning to see an aghast Midoriya. The green haired boy was staring at me in astonishment, or at least a new light.

I blushed, swallowing my current mouthful. I waved sheepishly. "H-hey, Izuku…" I mumbled, unable to make eye contact. Maybe I had been slightly overwhelmed by the free gourmet meal - it had certainly killed my common sense.

Ochako wasn't so bothered by the nervous tension in the air. "Hello, Izuku-kun! I've been trying to keep Ichigo from storming the cafeteria," she smiled sweetly, and I almost couldn't be upset with her. As it was, I pouted viciously.

"Th-the food is really g-good th-though!" I defended, twiddling the tips of my braids.

Izuku nodded slowly, sitting down next to Ochako. "Yeah, it is," I grinned at him shyly, happy that someone was on my side.

"Miss Kurosaki!" I flinched, turning in my chair cautiously to see Iida Tenya standing ramrod straight. I looked at him in terror. "I wanted to apologize for causing you such upset yesterday!" His glasses flashed, and then he bowed, making me jump again. "Please accept my sincerest apologies for any discomfort you have faced because of my actions!"

My face felt hot, and I waved my hands frantically in a placating manner. "O-oh n-no! It's f-fine! I f-f-faint a l-lot a-anyways! Y-you d-d-didn't do anyth-thing w-wrong!" I was barely understandable, since the more anxious I became the worse my stutter got. I hoped that Iida would sit down or go away, because people were starting to stare at our table oddly.

Iida straightened. "Of course, Miss Kurosaki! Are you sure you aren't injured?" I found myself smiling, because the gesture was sweet. He was honestly concerned for my health, and that was pretty rare for me, especially considering my quirk.

"I'm f-fine, Iida," I said cheerfully. "Thanks for the c-concern! Please call me Ichigo, though. Miss Kurosaki is very formal."

Iida nodded thoughtfully, sitting down in the chair next me. "Indeed, Ichigo. Then it would only be right for me to extend the same privilege. Please call me Tenya." His wording was rigid, but I appreciated the gesture.

"O-okay, Tenya!" I chirped, facing forwards again. I picked up my chopsticks, and then paused. Izuku and Ochako were smiling peculiarly. I frowned suspiciously at them. "Hey," I pointed my chopsticks accusingly, "what're y-you looking at?"

Izuku and Ochako both jumped in surprise, shaking their heads. "Nothing!"

I continued to look at them for a moment, before shrugging and returning to my food. Iida commented on my "zealous attitude" to the school's "truly stupendous cuisine!", and I became so busy in my conversation with him that I missed them both sighing in relief.

Skipping down the hall towards my final block of the day, I wondered what wonderful thing we would be doing next. After yesterday's scare, I had been worried Yuuei would be horrible; but in reality it was very fun! Mister Aizawa was just really sadistic, I supposed.

Landing awkwardly on one foot, I toppled forward, bumping into someone's arm. I yipped in surprise, jumping backwards. "I'm sorry-!" I squeaked, ready to bow in apology.

"Shut up!" Bakugo snarled, glaring at me viciously. I gulped, feeling myself start to tremble. The blonde looked more than ready to murder me for running into him.

"I'm v-very s-sorry," I repeated, voice meek and soft. "I-I w-will be m-more c-c-careful." I ducked my head, hoping Bakugo wouldn't really attack.

He only seemed more infuriated by my apology. "Yeah, you'll be more careful! Watch where you're fucking going!" There was a moment of silence, where Bakugo loomed over my shaking form, before the blonde stalked off towards our home classroom. I watched him leave, eyes still rounded in shock and fear.

"Kacchan isn't always very nice," I flinched, spinning to see Izuku. The green haired boy appeared very sympathetic. "I'm sorry for his behavior." I nodded cautiously, wondering why Izuku was the one apologizing to me, and not the temperamental blonde.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I-it's fine," I mumbled, fiddling with my braids. "L-let's just g-get to class." I shuffled forward slowly, and Izuku stepped in line with me as we trailed in Bakugo's wake. It's fairly poetic, I mused sarcastically, Even in hero school, the quiet ones fall behind, and bully's charge ahead.

Slipping through the doorway, I returned to my desk, watching Izuku sit ahead of me. Pulling out my notebook, I quietly doodled, pushing thoughts of Bakugo and his attitude from my mind. I had better things to focus on, like what Mister All Might would have them do for "Basic Hero Training."

"I AM HERE," The door slammed open, surprising me so much that I squealed loudly, pen flying from my hands. "THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" Dramatically, All Might, hero of heroes, entered the room, proudly making his way to the front. He was in a brightly colored costume, and his bangs stood atop his head. I looked remarkably similar for moment, braids standing up straight on my head as I shook in fear. The rest of the class broke out into excited muttering, marveling at their new teacher.

Izuku turned around, appearing very concerned when I didn't stop shaking. "Ichigo, it's fine," he whispered, eyes bright with excitement. "That's All Might!"

"Y-y-y-yeah…" I stammered, pulling my braids down to hide my face and slipping down in my seat. "I-I d-d-don't th-think I-I-I l-like h-him v-v-very m-m-m-much," I didn't like loud people. They were scary, like Bakugo. All Might seemed incredibly loud, with his booming voice and wide gestures. He was going to terrify me for the rest of the year, I could just tell. Izuku looked so scandalized at the thought of someone not liking All Might, I almost felt guilty.

Then the Pro Hero began to talk again, and that guilt died. "IT'S ME!" All Might shouted, spinning to face the class as his cape flew out behind him. "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundation through various trials! Basic Hero Studies, welcome to," He whipped out a white card grandly. "THE TRIAL OF BATTLE!"

The class looked very enthusiastic at the idea of fighting each other. Contrastingly, the energy drained right out of me, and I laid my face on the desk in sadness. I changed my mind, Yuuei was not awesome. It was awful, horrible, terrible, scary, bad, mean -

"And to go with you into your first battle," All Might continued, spreading his arms widely. "We've prepared the gear requests you sent in earlier to match your quirks!"

The other students stood up, cheering. "AWESOME! OUR BATTLE GEAR!" Izuku was one of the first to stand up, charging towards the shelving that had popped out of the wall earlier with the rest of the crowd. I sat at my desk, radiating an aura of depression. I hated combat training with a burning, fiery passion. Mister Aizawa, as incredible of a teacher as he was, did not believe in pulling punches. "A villain won't hold back," he'd pointed out during our first session, as if that was an excuse for sending me flying with a single kick. His methods worked though, which made it even harder to accept.

Ochako glanced back at me from the bustling crowd of students trying to reach the shelves. "Ichigo, c'mon!" She waved joyfully, glowing with happiness. My mood only darkened, and I continued to sit in my chair sullenly. Unfortunately, Ochako decided to walk over and haul me from my seat, dragging me towards the shelves, chattering happily. Her attitude was not contagious.

"Ichigo, please come out," Ochako pleaded from outside the changing room. "You can't sit in there forever!" I stared at the floor-length mirror in front of me, eyebrow twitching. I held out my arms and turned slightly, and the twitch grew worse.

As a scholarship student, I was already committed to an agency. That also meant that my actions and image would reflect on the agency. Ordinarily, when a hero joined an agency, their uniform and public profile would be carefully shaped to fit what the agency wanted; however, I didn't have a preexisting image. As a result, Mister Aizawa's agency had designed my first uniform.

At least, I thought dryly, they half-listened when I said nothing revealing. My new uniform consisted of a tight black body-suit and steel-toed boots. Over the body-suit, I had a loose black jumper, that covered my shoulders and extended just below mid-thigh. The only skin revealed was my face and hands, and the jumper didn't cling like the body suit, but the implication was there. I glared daggers into the mirror.

"Ichigo!" Ochako called again, and with an irritated huff, I spun around and slammed the door open. "Finally, I thought - oh," Ochako stared at me for a moment, lost, and I blushed angrily.

"I-I c-c-can't b-believe th-this!" I fumed, cheeks growing even hotter in humiliation. "Th-this isn't m-m-modest at a-all!" I hurried back into the changing room, determined to put on my uniform again and just suffer the consequences. Ochako grabbed my arm before I could.

"Your costume is fine, I promise," she said earnestly, eyes wide. "I was surprised, because it didn't seem your style, but you look good- better than good, actually!" She stepped back, and I reluctantly refused to retreat. Ochako gestured at her own costume. "Mine didn't come out just like I wanted either, so you aren't alone. It's way too puffy."

I sighed, flipping up the hood of the costume to better hide my face. "M-maybe," I muttered. "But I didn't d-design m-mine, which m-makes it w-worse."

Ochako blinked in surprise. "You didn't design your costume? Why?"

"I'm a s-scholarship s-student," I answered half-heartedly, starting towards the door. Ochako didn't look like she understood, but I wasn't in the mood to explain. I grabbed the door handle, ready to leave and face the class, and then paused. I turned back around, opened the gym locker, and dragged out my duffel bag. I shuffled through it, ignoring Ochako's confused glances.

After a few moments, Ochako got tired of waiting. "Ichigo…?" I grinned, standing up and facing her. Around my neck, my red scarf hung proudly. I skipped out the door, happy that I now had some say in my costume, even if only minorly. I made my way outside, Ochako beside me, and scarf flying behind.

"Izuku!" I chirped when we entered the field, darting forward. I was at the green haired boy's side in seconds, waving cheerfully at Tenya. "W-what's up?" Izuku just stared at me, cheeks red, and I suppressed the urge to flee back into the changing room.

Ochako appeared next to Tenya, grinning brightly. "Hey Izuku-kun! You're costume looks really practical," She gestured at herself broadly. "Mine didn't turn out so well."

Izuku shook his head, the green rabbit ears atop his head waving wildly. "N-no, you look fine!"

"Thanks," Ochako smiled sweetly, and Izuku's face became even more red. I watched them thoughtfully for a moment, feeling like I was missing something, before turning towards Tenya. Tenya was looming over a boy with purple bubbles for hair, somehow managing to make the illusion of flames burning behind him.

"-and you should not make such comments about our esteemed classmates!" Tenya continued as the purple-bubble boy looked up at him tearfully. I recognized him as the only person shorter than me, and brightened considerably. I bounced over to Tenya, grinning widely.

"Tenya, y-your costume looks s-super c-cool!" I complimented, hoping to end his tirade.

The black haired boy did stop ranting at bubble-boy. He turned on me instead. "Thank you, Ichigo! This costume has been modeled after my brother's, the great hero Ingenium!"

I patted him on the shoulder, having to stand on my tip-toes to do so. "Th-that's awesome!" I looked down at bubble-boy. "So, w-who's th-this?"

Bubble-boy stared at me, an odd light in his eyes. "My name is Mineta. You have a beautiful body." I blinked at him for a moment, then squeaked in embarrassment, leaping backwards. My face turned redder than it ever had before, and I promptly hid behind Tenya. Tenya was more than happy to defend me, and Mineta was instantly cowed. Unfortunately, before Tenya could continue lambasting him, All Might began to speak.

"THIS," All Might boomed, and I shook even more from behind Tenya. "WILL BE AN INDOOR BATTLE TRIAL! You'll see - in fact, take two steps and you'll be there!" Everyone turned to face the looming grey wall behind the pro hero. "Most acts of villainy are committed indoors. Although villain clean up is mostly seen outside, the better part of heroism is an indoor job." All Might placed his hands on his hips. "For this test, you'll separate into "villain" and "hero" groups, FOR A TWO-ON-TWO TEAM BATTLE!"

A girl in a green jumpsuit with goggles raised her hand. "What about the basic training?"

"THIS IS BASIC TRAINING!" All Might roared triumphantly. "ONLY THIS TIME, THERE WON'T BE ANY ROBOTS IT'D BE OKAY TO JUST DESTROY!" I stared at him in confusion. Robots? What robots? What did robots have to do with training? The other students seemed to understand though, so I stayed quiet. All Might moved on to explain the test. "For this training exercise, we'll have some 'villains' guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying! The heroes must track them down and end their nefarious scheme before the timer runs out! If the heroes can manage to capture the missle or villains before they run out of time, they win! And your teammates will be chosen by lottery!" He whipped out a small box from nowhere. I shuddered, trying to become even smaller. We had to work in teams? Imagine if I got stuck with someone like Bakugo!

All Might began to draw slips of paper, announcing the teams as he went. Ochako and Izuku were on one team, and Tenya was stuck with Bakugo. The others were just as quickly sorted, until only one person was left - me.

I raised my hand timidly. "Um, e-excuse me? S-sir?" All Might looked down on me, even more intimidating than before. "I-uh d-don't have a t-team!" I squeaked.

"Oh!" All Might looked surprised, and almost... embarrassed? "Well then, Miss Kurosaki, why don't you join Team I?" I looked around in confusion, wondering where Team I was. A floating glove waved at me, and I scurried over.

Said floating glove was apparently attached to an invisible person. "It's nice to meet you, you're Ichigo Kurosaki, right?" The girl said cheerfully. "I'm Toru Hagakure!"

"Mashirao Ojiro," the tall boy with a tail introduced. "It's nice to meet you as well."

I reached up for a moment for my braids, before remembering that they'd been tucked into my costume. "M-my pleasure," I mumbled. "Ichigo K-Kurosaki."

Ojiro nodded. "Very well, Kurosaki. What do you think about this?"

"It seems pretty awesome, ne? I can't wait to start!" Hagakure clapped her hands excitedly. I nodded in agreement, despite the fact I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of fighting.

All Might clapped his hands, recalling everyone's attention. "The first two teams will be..." he reached into the lottery boxes. "TEAM A…!" I saw Izuku and Ochako jumped to attention. "AND TEAM D!" Bakugo snarled, eyes immediately honing in on Izuku. I gulped, feeling my stomach sink. This was not going to turn out well at all.